Talk:Merlin
Hogwarts Attendance I do realise that his house was revealed on Pottermore, but since the legend of King Arthur was said to be in roughly the 600's AD, wouldn't this make it impossible for Merlin to have attended the school which was founded in the late 10th century? And the list of English Kings goes back to late 700's with a good deal of certainty, meaning Arthur would have had to have come before. Could this be a Slytherin attempt to make their house look good? - :Okay, first of all, the book says hogwarts was founded OVER a thousand years ago, not a thousand years EXACT. Even binns states that the exact date is uncertain, and SECONDLY, any harry potter fan should know about JK rowling's notoriety when it comes to maths! (Anonymius (talk) 17:23, March 1, 2013 (UTC)) :That's speculation. Regardless of historic fact/ literature in the real world, the HP universe has a different history. If Pottermore says he's a Slytherin, then he's a Slytherin. Also, please sign your posts with four tildes ~~~~ on talk pages. - [[User:Cavalier One|'Cavalier One']] (''Wizarding Wireless Network'') 07:39, August 17, 2011 (UTC) Why Slytherin? I wonder why he was sorted in Slytherin? Any ideas based on the information from Pottermore and the common legend? 13:48, October 25, 2011 (UTC) :Maybe because the Sorting Hat could tell that he was an immensely powerful wizard, something which slytherin values most? Or merlin came from a long line of prejudiced pure-bloods, and it was later in life he developed his ideas of protecting the muggle world (seems most likely to me). 00:15, March 18, 2012 (UTC) ::The sorting hat does NOT sort you according to what family you have, but on what your attributes and values are. What you are saying COMPLETELY contradicts the books. If people are sorted in the same houses as their families, it's probably because they may tend to hold the same values as their families (but as can be seen from sirius and padma this isn't always the case!) (Anonymius (talk) 17:21, March 1, 2013 (UTC)) ::::What they said doesn't contradict the books at all. Should have read closer, either their comment or the books. HP2004 (talk) 23:43, November 6, 2017 (UTC) ::I very much doubt that either of these was the reason, given that Albus Dumbledore was also a very powerful wizard who, at the time of his Sorting, was prejudiced against Muggles (albeit not to the degree of his then friend, Grindelwald), and yet he got sorted into Gryffindor. — RobertATfm (talk) 22:23, December 20, 2012 (UTC) Slytherin Propaganda? while pottermore says merlin "was" a slytherin we no other proof than a slytherin's word which isn't much as all their welcome message is just BS and complaining about other houses do you really think j.k. would have made such a huge mistake of 500 or more years between merlin and the founding of hogwarts? 02:21, April 9, 2013 (UTC) :Regardless, Pottermore is canon; it doesn't matter that it's the word of a Slytherin that makes it so. If we use that logic, we would have to take Dumbledore off the list of Gryffindors. And regardless of historical fact/fiction, in the world of Harry Potter Merlin went to Hogwarts. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 02:27, April 9, 2013 (UTC) Name Although it isn't actually confirmed or anything, but I have a hard time imagining that Merlin were his entire name. Since there is no canon sources to cotradict it, can we assume that his name indeed was Merlin Ambrosius, like many of the Arthurian Legends states? (Simen Johannes Fagerli) :I'm afraid we can't because that name never appears in canon. Until a full name is given in canon, we have to stick with just "Merlin". --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 20:59, June 1, 2013 (UTC) :I know it wouldn't be canon, but its likely, isn't it? ::Unfortunately, it isn't all that likely - the Merlin in Harry Potter lived in a completely different era from the mythological Merlin. Besides, every canon source to date has given his name as "Merlin" whereas those above and below him on the list had both surname and given name. Adding "Merlin Ambrosius" as his name would be speculative at best, and speculation in articles isn't allowed (save for Behind the scenes, and even that is only allowed if there is a general support for its addition). --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 15:15, June 2, 2013 (UTC) Blood Status Anyone know of a canon source for this info? I must admit, I'd love for canon to say at least one parent was a Magbob lol Avigor (talk) 06:50, September 18, 2014 (UTC) Bald? Is it just me or is Merlin bald? What we see on the side of his face, is it part of his beard or is it hair? Ninclow 09:54, May 2, 2015 (UTC) 'Merlin's hat?' I know this is a stupid question but what kind of hat is Merlin wearing in the main image? As in the hat type. I know it's stupid but it's bugging me. StargateFanBB (talk) 16:02, May 31, 2016 (UTC) exact type is not mentioned and n real world style exists but its loosely a mix of a rabi style hat and a medieval arming cap. due to time period i would more likely line it up ith a wizard print arming cap for him.Rolando Zolo (talk) 23:57, January 23, 2017 (UTC) Thanks for your input. It was bugging me for ages. Yeah I don't think the style exists in real life but I was wondering as I'm writing a fanfic involving Merlin and I wanted to be able to describe his attire accurately. Thanks again. StargateFanBB (talk) 04:08, March 11, 2017 (UTC) Merlins Rune just a FYI but the claim of merlins rune not existing in the real world is slightly incorrect information. while no 2 stories seem to agree on EXACTLY what his symbol is the most common in mythos is he had a like for nordic runes. the real world Merlin is accredited in a few diffrent media to signing his work with an X in a square (similar to dagaz rune but a line connecting top and bottom.) the idea of this mark is it coveres every runic mark needed to spell out the word Merlin. without a in-universe cannon showing his rune no point adding to article but i feel the behind the scenes comment about his ruin needs to be pulled from page as other none Rowling work supports he had a mark. Rolando Zolo (talk) 23:54, January 23, 2017 (UTC) What are the sources for Merlin signing his work with a rune in real-life lore? I've never seen any reference to such a symbol in real-life. Even then if he did have a rune that had all the runes in his name in it wouldn't the symbols used be for "Myrddin" or "Merlinus" instead as "Merlin" is the modern english spelling of that name. StargateFanBB (talk) 04:49, March 11, 2017 (UTC) Portrait details It mentioned in the article that Merlin made his own portrait seen in HM. Is there any source that he actually made his own portrait or sorce that he educated it to act and speak like him etc?StargateFanBB (talk) 21:09, January 18, 2019 (UTC) No direct ones, but I'd say it would be odd for a portrait of Merlin to know so much about the nature of the Cursed Vaults if the real life counterpart didn't teach it to him/it. After all, portraits don't usually have detailed knowledge of abstract, complex subjects, yet Merlin's do. Maester Martin (talk) 23:30, April 19, 2019 (UTC) Appearance The physical descriptions of Merlin do not conflict each other. As such, there is no reason NOT to include physical descriptors. (See here: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Forum:Character_Images_and_Infoboxes?t=20170916234346 ) First of all, every game (read: source) featuring Merlin's physical appearance (PS/COS, POA, and HM) have him with the same features, (white hair, light skin, and blue eyes) so making a case that "Oh, if we put a physical description, we could have contradictions, like with Donaghan Tremlett." That point is moot, because Merlin is not physically described in text anywhere, and we know his appearance from the games. Second, in the proposal itself, the most voted on proposal was "Use written details first, and then any additional information from the latest portrayal." The written details are that there are no written details. The additional information from the latest potrayal, that is, his physical appearance from all three sources he appears in corroborate each other. Third, having no description does not override a known description, because if it did, then the image of Merlin wouldn't be on the page. Oerk (talk) 22:29, April 18, 2019 (UTC) :If you read the discussions I provided on your talk page, all these points were addressed there. What you are arguing for is a change to if there is only a single depiction, then the information is used regardless of differing canon levels, but this does not address the general issue of when conflicts do arise, which the current approach does. In short, your suggestion handles one case at the expense of all the others. A useful approach needs to address all the cases equally. :Seth's input would probably be helpful here as he strongly advocated for the current approach and even noted not to use lower-canon depictions for physical descriptions when establishing the new Eye color categories. Let's see what he has to say. Cheers --Ironyak1 (talk) 19:24, April 19, 2019 (UTC) ::The general rule for physical descriptions, when it comes to book characters, is that we stick with book info or, if that is the case, the lack thereof. That is the reason, say, the article on Quirinus Quirrell makes no mention of eye colour even though Ian Hart has blue eyes, and did not seem to wear any contact lenses for the film. Merlin can arguably be considered a "book character" since he made a passing appearance as a picture in -- even though no details on his appearance were described. ::(By the way, note that in Forum:Character Images and Infoboxes, after the discussion took us elsewhere, we ended up voting on what would be the main infobox images for Cursed Child characters -- see the proposals here -- not the descriptors issue.) -- [[User:Seth Cooper| Seth Cooper ]][[User talk:Seth Cooper| owl post!]] 17:17, April 23, 2019 (UTC) Hello, Seth, I would just like to re-visit this topic after Ironyak1 decided to undo an edit regarding the physical appearance because "he was a book character from higher canon", which is rather ridiculous, really. Maester Martin (talk) 03:23, April 25, 2019 (UTC)